Top ‘Dog Matthew Grimm is a small-town Iowa expatriate who embraced and, in short order, rejected Wall Street, choosing instead to channel his energies into a decidedly leftist, NYC-based combo of no fixed genre.
As with the Hangdogs’ previous recordings (Same Old Story, East Of Yesterday, Beware Of Dog and the live Something Left To Sell), their new release Wallace ’48 uses country shit-kickers, splintery Crazy Horse rock anthems, boozy rock ‘n’ roll rave-ups and disarmingly delicate ballads as backdrops for their increasingly vitriolic digs at pop culture and business- and-politics-as-usual.
Fittingly, the title track is a stirring, Grimm-penned faux-campaign song for former FDR veep and cabinet member Henry A. Wallace — himself an Iowa expatriate whose ill-fated presidential run on the Progressive Party ticket ended with crushing defeat and Wallace being vilified as a pinko apologist.
Elsewhere, they lower the boom on complacency (“Waiting For The Stars To Fall”), mindless acquisition of “shit that we don’t need” (“Memo From The Head Office”), and soul-killing jobs (“Serious Guy”, “Early To Bed”), tossing in a black-humored piss-take on ‘country’ radio (“Drink Yourself To Death”).
So much venom could backfire, but the Hangdogs boast more than enough muscle and finesse to pull it off, and Grimm deftly leavens his rage with a cutting sense of humor and a beer-soaked tender side. Extra points for being unhinged enough to find a shimmering, melancholy country-rocker lurking inside Gladys Knight & the Pips’ 1973 smash, “Midnight Train To Georgia”.